North to Alaska ping.
In fact, when I did some Google searches, another article about this find came up, with a reader comment suggesting they were spindle whorls.
And that article has more pics of the excavation, for the picture-lovers:
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2011/alaskan-archaeologists-find-ancient-artefacts
Here are pictures of all sorts of spindle whorls, ancient and modern:
Google Images "spindle whorls"
And here are some drop spindles, for the non-fiber arts people among us, so you can see what the entire spindle looks like and how it is used:
Google Images "drop spindle"
Apparently whorls are also used with the type of drills used to start fires, though I don't know the details and have no idea if such tools were used in northern Alaska.